Terrestrial Matter Effects on Reactor Antineutrino Oscillations: Constant vs. Fluctuated Density Profiles

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different models of Earth's crust density profiles affect the precision of reactor antineutrino oscillation measurements, emphasizing the importance of accurate geological modeling for neutrino physics.

Contribution

It introduces a realistic piecewise-constant crustal density model and compares constant versus fluctuated profiles, highlighting their impact on oscillation parameter extraction.

Findings

Density profile uncertainties can influence oscillation parameter accuracy.

Fluctuated density profiles introduce additional uncertainties in measurements.

Crust tomography could enhance future neutrino experiments.

Abstract

The JUNO Collaboration has recently released its first reactor antineutrino oscillation result, achieving unprecedented precision in the measurement of $\Delta m^2_{21}$ and $\sin^2\theta_{12}$. We emphasize that the accurate determination and modeling of the terrestrial matter density profile are fundamental for extracting the oscillation parameters and probing the neutrino mass ordering. This paper presents a realistic piecewise-constant model for the shallow crustal density profile along the baselines from Taishan and Yangjiang to the experimental hall, based on geological and petrophysical information. The uncertainty in the density profiles arises from variations in the density and length of each segment, both of which are conservatively estimated to be 10%. A careful comparison of constant and fluctuated density profiles is provided and the implications for the precision measurement of oscillation parameters are discussed. Finally, we also discuss the prospect of shallow crust tomography in future reactor neutrino experiments.